THE study of error is often only a little less important than the study of truth. The history of the human mind. in its progress from ignorance towards knowledge should tell us the mistakes into which it has sometimes wandered, as well as its steps in the right path. We turn, indeed, with more pleasure to review the sources from which the world has gained any of its valuable truths, in the hope of there finding some further knowledge which may be equally valuable; while for our errors, so long as we are unwilling to acknowledge them to be errors, we too often shut our eyes, and refuse to be shown their origin. The Emperor Marcus, Antoninus, in his philosophical work, mentions the several tutors and friends from whom he gained his good habits, and those views of life which he chiefly valued; but though we must suppose that he was aware of some failings in his character, he does not tell us to which of his companions he owed them. And so it is with the benefits of civilisation, arts, and religion; and also with the evils of superstition. Modern Europe readily acknowledges how many benefits it received from When we speak of the church we use Latin wards, as "vestry," "rector," "vicar," "curate," "incumbent," "ordination," "font," "creed," "doctrine." Words more strictly religious are often Greek, as "baptism," "liturgy" "litany." The Spanish have given us a few words relating to their social life, such as "alcove," "verandah," "duenna." From the Arabs, through scientific treatises, we have taken "almanach," "alchemy," "chemistry," "algebra." The Italians also have given us many words relating to art, such as "mezzotint," "fresco-painting," "chiaroscuro," "pianoforte," "violoncello," "opera." These few instances are, perhaps, enough to justify us in thinking that when the Greeks, Romans, and Jews have made use of Coptic words, it has arisen from their having borrowed these branches of knowledge from the Egyptians. The aim of the following pages is not only to explain the Mythology of Egypt, but to show the extraordinary readiness with which its religious opinions were copied by the neighbouring nations, particularly by the Greeks and Romans. In matters of religion, the more ignorant part of those two nations bowed in reverence to the greater earnestness and seriousness of the Egyptians, who were at the same time so remarkably rich in mythological invention. Pagan Greece, received from Egypt all that part of its religion which related to a future state of rewards and punishments, and though Christian Greece was for a short time too intelligent to take the whole of the Egyptian mysticism and superstition, yet Christian Rome, from which our own opinions were chiefly learned, had no such hesitation, and was at all times a most willing pupil. These facts may receive some explanation from two known laws of the human mind. First, among religious persons the fear of doing wrong makes them more afraid of falling into scepticism than into credulity; and those who believe more, whether they believe wisely or unwisely, are apt to think themselves on safer ground than those who believe less. In the case of a proposition in science, when the arguments for it and against it seem equal, the reasoner withholds his assent; but in the case of a religious dogma or article of faith, the mind in its weakness fancies it safer to accept it than to reject it. The reasoning powers are in part over-ruled by the feelings. In religious controversy, both parties, the believer and the doubter, usually feel that the reproach of disbelief, which it is in the power of one to throw against the other, hits a much harder blow than the reproach of credulity and superstition, which is all that the other can fling back again. It is only among irreligious persons and scoffers that the feelings strengthen the other side, and that disbelief can shut the door against argument by an equally blind and unfair claim to superiority. Hence arises the power which superstitious and complicated systems of religions have of spreading themselves, and hence the weakness of good sense when setting up its simple truths against the encroachments of such many-sided errors. Secondly, earnestness and sincerity are the most powerful helps by which we enforce our opinions and convert our neighbours. And there was far more real conviction of the truth of their religion among the Egyptians than among their Greek and Roman neighbours. Hence the It was one of the duties of the priests of Philæ to purchase of the river Nile a bountiful overflow by throwing a piece of gold into the stream once a year, and hence, probably, the Venetians borrowed their custom of wedding the Adriatic by throwing a gold ring into the sea. At the same time the Doge's cap was copied from the crown of Lower Egypt. Our Christmas game of drawing lots for the title of King and Queen, is Egyptian. It was called by the Alexandrians, as Julius Pollux tells us, the game of Basilinda; and Tacitus mentions the quarrel between Nero and Britannicus when they were playing at this game in Rome. The Egyptian day for eating sugared cakes had been our twentieth of January, but in the fourth century, says Moses of Chorene, it was changed to be kept fourteen days earlier; and the sugared cake of the Egyptians now marks the feast of Epiphany, or Twelfth Night. 104). The figure of the Almighty, with head and outstretched arms at the head of the picture, particularly in the early pictures, when the head hung downwards, is the same in design as that of Horus at the top of many a funeral papyrus (see page 87). The figure of a triangle to represent the Trinity was clearly borrowed from Pagan Egypt (see page 99). The supposed arts of astrology and witchcraft were more particularly Egyptian; the conjuror's word of Abracadabra is a corruption of the Greek word Abrasax, which is itself a corruption of the Egyptian hurt me not, by which they hoped to warn off evil spirits; and fortunetellers are even yet called Egyptians or Gypsies. When Shakespeare brings upon the stage the queen of the witches, she bears the name of Hecate, one of the well-known names of Isis. These fanciful customs and foolish opinions and traditions This Second Edition has been enlarged to the extent of four pages by the MS. additions which the Author left ready for publication. E. S. 1896.